A FATHER of four was fighting for his life last night after being attacked when he confronted thugs causing trouble outside his home.

Phil Carroll, 48, was beaten up when he went to talk to three teenagers after a stone was thrown which hit his car.

He was left with serious head injuries in the street. Mr Carroll was last night in intensive care at Salford's Hope Hospital, where he had undergone an operation on his brain. His condition was described as critical but stable.

Det Chief Insp Geoff Wessell, of Salford CID, leading the hunt for Mr Carroll's attackers, said: "This was a totally unprovoked attack carried out against a man trying to protect his property. It's impossible to justify why anybody would carry out such a vicious attack."

Mr Carroll's wife Jean said: "We're all devastated about what has happened. He is such a good person and is well-liked by lots of people. He went out to fix his car and a minute later he was lying injured in the street."

She appealed for help in catching the youths who had attacked her husband: "Somebody must know who did this," she said. "Phil is a lovely man and a good father. He would do anything for anybody."

The attack happened at the corner of Oak Road and Grecian Street North in Lower Broughton, Salford, at about 9pm on Friday.

A gang of more than 20 drunken and rowdy teenage boys and girls was seen near Mr Carroll's terrace home in Oak Road, Lower Broughton, shortly before. Neighbours said they saw at least one youth run over the roof of a car in the street. Others were shouting abuse at passers-by.

Alley gates were put up behind the terraces in Oak Road about a week ago to keep trouble-makers away.

Mr Carroll, who works as a project engineer and site manager in the building industry, is understood to have found three youths in the alley when he went - with his brother John - to fix his car, parked at the back of his house.

He told them to move but they threw a stone which hit his car. When he followed them out of the alley, he was attacked.

Alcohol

John, who had been sitting in the car when the attack happened round a corner, found him on the ground.

Shocked neighbours told the M.E.N. that the quiet residential road was being plagued by a gang of teenagers who did not live nearby. They said a mob of boys and girls were drinking litre-sized bottles of alcohol before the attack happened.

One woman neighbour said: "No one can believe this has happened to Phil.

We have had a problem for some time with youths drinking and causing problems. They don't seem to live around here. They often hang out at a nearby park, but they were causing lots of trouble on the streets here on Friday.

"There were more than 20 of them - boys and girls. They were drinking and shouting. I saw one of them jump over a car. Someone needs to find out who is selling them the alcohol."

Another man from a nearby street, aged 58, said his nose had been broken after he was hit in the face with a brick in an attack by a gang while walking to shops. Det Chief Iinsp Wessell said: "I would appeal to members of the community to help us trace these attackers by coming forward with the names of the youths, aged 14 to 16, in the area at that time."

Mr Carroll's family kept a vigil at his bedside over the weekend. One of his two sons, aged 21, had flown to Australia shortly before the attack and is now expected to return to Britain.

Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward and have released descriptions of two youths they want to question. One is white, aged 15-17, 6ft, with short, dark hair. He wore a dark baseball cap and a dark hooded jacket of a shiny material.

The second is also white but looked about 17. He was 5ft 9in to 5ft 10in, wearing a similar jacket with a duller black finish and dark blue jeans.

The third person police want to speak to is a white girl aged 15-16 with dark hair. She wore a tight, short dark brown leather crocodile skin skirt with dark brown spots and a dark suede-effect jacket.

Anyone with information should call Salford CID on 0161-856 5351 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.